#i felt the same way about greedling

[waitineedaname]

wei wuxian is one of those characters where I do believe he's at his core a good person with good intentions, but I absolutely would not trust him with my wallet

[imagineanime2022]

Ling Yao Clingy S/O

Ling Yao X Reader

Requested: Anon

Request: Could I request Ling Yao x clingy reader? Not super clingy, but the kind of S/O whi just feels safer near their partner, or enjoys holding hands as often as possible as it calms them down?

A/N: Couldn't do this one without adding Greedling for a small section, sectioned it off so that you can skip it if you want but I figured it was something that you would need to address as well.

👑 Ling would love a clingy S/O or someone who relies on him to feel safe, he relies on you to reassure him that he’s doing the right thing, so you both need each other's case closed. 👑 He was the one to ask you to travel across the desert with, it’s not like you don’t know how to look after yourself so you agreed since you never felt more at ease than when you were with him. 👑 He makes sure that he’s holding your hand when he can or standing close enough that you could feel him there. 👑 He’s excited about everything, he pointed things out to you as he dragged you from place to place, he never forgot about you, you were literally attached at the hip. 👑 Ling is careful with you around other people, like the first time that you met Ed and Alphonse and he made sure that you were practically sitting on his lap so that he could keep you safe. 👑 Times when you get overwhelmed he’ll let you play with his fingers, hold his hand or lean against him until you feel better.

Greedling

👑 The one time that you and Ling were separated he made a decision that affected you both and Greed took control of the body that was supposed to keep you safe, it wasn’t the same as it had been. 👑 Ling basically conned Greed into finding you, he needed to make sure that you were okay while he trusted Lan Fan and Fu to keep you safe, he was sure that you still needed him. 👑 He wasn’t wrong in his absence you had become more jumpy and less trusting, you only really spoke to Lan Fan and never really left whatever safe house they had managed to find. 👑 Greed came straight through the window, no regard for scaring you. 👑 You would have taken his head off had he not been wearing Ling’s face, he tried at first to pass himself off as the man you had been waiting for but you saw right through him, that was when he explained what happened and even gave you a few minutes with Ling. 👑 From there you set up a small deal that allowed you to still see Ling nights to cuddle up and talk or moments of hand holding or quick whisper in your ears. 👑 You ended up getting to know Greed in the time that he spent in Ling’s body and realised that they were very similar, Greed quickly became a stand in for Ling and while they both reacted differently to your affection, they both loved it for different reasons. 👑 Greed was just as protective of you and kept you just as close though he would tell you it was because the prince wouldn’t shut up if he didn’t. 👑 Basically the same relationship but way more teasing.

Back to Ling

👑 Once Ling has his body back he doesn’t let you go for a very long time, he missed being able to touch you and worried that he’d never get to do it of his own free will again. 👑 Apologies for putting you through that and promises that he’ll never do it again. 👑 Kisses you for the first time when you are back in Xing and he is announced as the new emperor. 👑 Never lets you go again, allows you to do whatever you wanted, playing with his hair, fingers or sitting on his lap as you had hushed conversations. 👑 Will dedicate times of the day to you and make sure that no one interrupts you. 👑 Will drop everything if you needed something, if you needed support he was there, hand connected to yours as he encouraged you forward. 👑 No matter what he loves you and supports you no matter what you need, after all I fully believe this man loves giving to whoever he chooses as his. Gifts, time, physical affection it’s all yours for as long as you will have him.

Request Here!!

[rcris123]

okok cris now that you've finished conqueror of shamballa, tELL US ALL ABOUT HOW YOU REACHED THE CONCLUSION THAT FMA 03 IS SUPERIOR TO BROTHERHOOD !! ik we talked about it a lil bit in voice but i'm sure there's so much that you want to articulate and may be easier to do so in written format vs verbal !!

Short answer it's much more emotional, incisive and mature, posing very interesting question and answering them with nuance instead of this good and this bad the way the ending of BH felt.

And I also just came to the realization that holy fuck, if I grew attached to Ling/Greedling and Mei in BH, it was because they were the more interesting and dynamic characters in the story, but most importantly they were highly emotional characters. I liked other BH characters: Al, Scar, Izumi, Winry, but that's not enough to get my truly invested in something. COMPARE THAT TO 03 where I fell for the plight of half the cast: Al, Scar, Lust, Sloth, Wrath, Izumi. And Al's voice acting is PITCH PERFECT and I love that boy so much, because he's kind, considerate, patient and moderate and the tragedy of him ending up becoming the philosopher's stone because deep down the story always careened towards Al never being able to get his body back and the absolute struggle and nail-batting tension to see how, and the how is Ed is now in a completely separate world. The double sacrifice of the brothers because the most important thing bar anything ever IS their bond with each other and wherever one goes they shouldn't go alone. I love their dynamic and I MUCH enjoy Ed being an absolute CHAOS MONGERER, angry, vivacious and vicious. And I much more enjoy his resolve, him gaining nuance and slowly but surely renouncing his own dreams for the sake of everyone else and the way he's constantly portrayed as not being on the military's side even if he enjoys the perks of being part of it. He's come to represent the people and now has a responsability towards them.

And I love Scar, I love that Scar isn't responsible for the death of Winry's parents, I'm glad he was not made the 'exception that confirmed the rule' in the eyes of our protagonists because Ed's insistence of his moral superiority bc he didn't kill anyone in BH created increasingly staler and more frustrating encounters between the brothers and Scar. I desperately wanted allyship between them and even though it's there in BH it's not earned the way I felt it would be meaningful and that would be the brothers understanding Scar's plight. BUT HERE WE HAVE 03 DOING EXACTLY THAT, 03 where Scar isn't as antagonistic towards the brothers and especially Al, in some cases feeling almost like a protective figure and especially in the moment of sacrifice. I say Dad Scar is what I dream of. And Lust! And the Scar's rapport with her and the way she represents both Scar's grief at and with his brother but also the very reason he's still alive and capable of doing all that he's doing.

The homonculi are FANTASTICALLY expanded on in 03, the very core of those characters is super emotional and they get to interact with the characters that will cause all those emotions to stir and rise to the surface and those emotional confrontations are genuinely compelling and moving. And I think by having the homonculi be be born of so much emotion that they end up taking its name creates that very very delicious dynamic of narrative foils that I am absolutely in love with!! I think my favorite example here is Wrath! He's Ed! He's tiny little Ed, feral and vicious in exactly the same way, even though Ed's most prominent 'sin' is Sloth, willful ignorance, which is what led to the creation of their homonculus, their mother. And the way Wrath clings and shouts and cries for Sloth, who he considers his mother, and the way Ed, specifically, engages with Izumi, pretty much the brothers adoptive mother and the way he is faced with accountability. It's fantastic, it's delicious, it's my bread and butter!

I also love that there's less focus on the military, like Roy & co, and that at one point we weren't sure if we could trust any of them, because distrust in the military is a very healthy sentiment to cultivate in an audience and BH lacks that in favor of the tired, bootlicking 'it's just a couple of bad apples uwu' and 'not all soldiers!'. Roy being responsible for the death of Winry's parents because they were helping the wounded regardless of ethnicity and that was considered by the state a betrayal of the war effort in the long run; the way Winry found out and was incapable of doing anything about it because she'd be speaking out against the fucking military, which seems to be the most important organ of Armestris; the fact that Roy loses his eye and doesn't gain it back by profiting off fucking genocide like in BH AND he also becomes a lonely depressed hermit that doesn't use alchemy until he's needed at the last second feels earned and fitting and in line with the nuanced ending of all the other characters, which is much more cathartic in a way than in BH where it's just happy. People died, loses occurred and you can't come back from that, which doesn't mean growth can't happen anymore, but 03 understands that not everything needs to be 'fixed' for an ending to be good, fulfilling. Not returning to the status quo is good actually and so is diverging from the wishes that the characters made when they were kids.

I'll say it here too: 03 feels like the fix-it-fic for many aspects of BH that to me felt lacking.

[fmabigbangs]

Prompt #2: Homunculi AU

Prompt requested by: @justsigneduptolookattags​

Writer: @rizahawkaye​ // Artist: ayanthos

Homunculus AU // Rated G // ~1k words

monster, 7:13AM: we gonna practice this ish or what

softest softy, 7:14AM: What “ish”?

king of bling, 7:14AM: i think they’re referring to volleyball, big guy

softest softy, 7:15AM: Oh.

sir sleeps-a-lot, 7:17AM: im already in bed little green fella

tall glass of agua (master), 7:18AM: Coach Bradley didn’t approve use of the gym for spring break, Envy.

monster, 7:18AM: im not talking about the gym, mom

monster, 7:18AM: im talking sand

king of bling, 7:19AM: like the beach? 

monster, 7:19AM: no better way to challenge ourselves than to change up the terrain! 

The sand certainly was different. Greed had played only a few unofficial games of sand volleyball, and realized his attacks were basically useless without the typical give of a finished court. Greed based a lot of his movements off the vibration of that court. He measured his attacks in the force needed to fly off the ground. Sand, though, lended him no such niceties. It made him pay attention to the ball, of all things.

“You gotta take your shoes off, Greedy boy.” Envy tittered from his place beyond the row of rocks he’d set as the court dimensions. He was sloughing his shoes and socks off so fast that you’d think they were suffocating him. “The game’s not the same otherwise.”

Greed glared at him but slipped his shoes off anyway. He thought about leaving his socks on but didn’t want them to fill with sand. And he wasn’t certain that if they did fill with sand he’d ever be able to get it all out. He stuffed his socks up into the toes of his sneakers and stepped onto the “court.” 

His feet sunk to his ankles. Sand, grainy and warm from a day of soaking up the ocean sun, took up residence between his toes. When the wind blew, he heard the tides pulling against the earth, and felt droplets of water and sand hit his face and settle in his hair. It wasn’t long before he tasted the ocean on his lips, bit into the tiny granules of sand as they filtered between his teeth and into his mouth. It was equally unpleasant and pleasant, this sensation. Someone slapped him on the back and broke him from his thoughts. 

“Three-on-three,” Envy grinned. His teeth looked extraordinarily bright in the white morning light.

“How will we have a three-on-three without Pride here? Or, you know, Greedling? There are only four of us.”

“Pride is here, you dunce. You were just too engrossed in yourself to notice.” Envy swung his arm in an arc, and Pride was on the other side of the net. Shorty was doing stretches in the sand, which almost swallowed him halfway up his calves. “And Greedling should be here soon. He turned notifications for the group text off cuz he thinks we’re annoying as all hell, but I texted him a while ago. He said he’d take a leisurely jog out here.”

Greed blinked. A leisurely jog for Greedling from where he lived was, like, twenty minutes on a good day. Maybe today was one of Greedling’s good days, although Greed doubted it. The two of them — Greed and Greedling — were named for their similarities. Despite being a third year and Greedling a first, the two were nearly identical in everything but nationality. That was all right. Greedy as Greed was, he wasn’t too bothered by sharing with others. He liked to think volleyball taught him that. 

Greed did a few warm up laps barefoot along the perimeter of the beach as he waited for everyone to arrive. The sand was unforgiving, but there was something to be said about the wet air and the way it coated his throat, the way it tasted on his tongue. Greedling had arrived midway through Greed’s final lap and they lined up on either side of the net: Pride, Sloth, and Greedling on one side, their backs to the sun, and Greed, Gluttony, and Envy on the other. Without Coach Bradley, they’d have no way of knowing if anything they did was worthwhile during this impromptu bright-as-shit practice. And without Lust they were bound to break out into an argument or twelve, but Greed reasoned that, at the very least, some practice was better than none.

Greedling took the first serve. It flew over the net so fast Greed could hardly follow the ball with his eyes. Without their libero, Pride, he was almost certain the ball was going to slam into the sands and send it spraying up and out in all directions. Instead, Envy caught the serve on his forearms and it flew a few feet into the air. Gluttony, his massive arm swinging out in an equally massive arc, scooped the ball up, up, up. Greed barely knew where it was when he leapt and hit it, instantly feeling the satisfying sting of the ball smacking into his palm. 

It soared past Pride, throwing sand over the rock boundary line. Pride looked to the ball and then to Greed and back again, smirking. 

The game had begun.

[mirrorfalls]

The Alchemist When He’s Full of Metal, Vol. 26

(Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3, Vol. 4, Vol. 5, Vol. 6, Vol. 7, Vol. 8, Vol. 9, Vol. 10, Vol. 11, Vol. 12, Vol. 13, Vol. 14, Vol. 15, Vol. 16, Vol. 17, Vol. 18, Vol. 19, Vol. 20, Vol. 21, Vol. 22, Vol. 23, Vol. 24, Vol. 25)

Point the first: Jesus Christ Brotherhood had already finished production by the time this volume was in stores?! That’s some turnaround.

Point the second: I’d half-expected all the lol-Ed’s-tiny jokes would lead up to something Serious, but I wish it had been more substantial than just this one page.

Which is partly - maybe mostly - to say: no, the Dwarf’s endgame didn’t do much to rivet my attention. Maybe I just don’t have the right mindset for high fantasy, but this-

-feels about as cliché as you can get without having your Big Bad go “I’mma Rule The World” outloud. And it’s compounded by the Dwarf’s very being; if he were a human or even an ex-human there might be some mystery or complexity in examining how he got like this, but a one-eyed phantom from who-knows-where can’t claim any such starting point. Nor does Arakawa go the opposite direction and try to play up his inhumanity as she did with Father’s original debut; in fact, a lot of his dialog is trading typical Shonen “You’ll never get away with this!/Just try to stop me!” banter with Hohenheim, and it’s tedious as Hell.

(I also had some complaints - formed roughly two volumes ago - about this final form of his being too much “Pride minus all the parts that worked“, but by now it’s actually grown a bit on me. So of course he goes and replaces it with a Final Final Form that I... guess is supposed to be Al’s naturally-aged human body? That could’ve also been interesting, except none of the characters have a shred of reaction to it. Baaah.)

That said, in terms of pure plot-moving I still felt a little shudder at the sight of him Watchmen-izing all of Amestris - and you know what, I gotta call Pinako’s reaction here the crowning line of this volume, maybe the entire series.

Meanwhile! Scar finally finishes off Wrath, in a scene that @jeannettegray​ has rightfully deemed gives Fantasy Hitler waaay more dignity than he had coming. Lan-Fan’s (deliberately?) failing to give him the vengeance stroke he so dearly wanted goes a ways in cushioning that, but really, Scar should’ve tossed a final “Your philosophy is bad and you should feel bad!” speech at him before heading off to facilitate the heroes’ big countermove.

Said countermove is... not as convoluted as I thought it’d be, though I feel like it still has one too many layers to get the very simple (and timely!) Diversity and Understanding = Good message across as well as it might have. The important thing is, it lets the heroes un-Watchmenize the entire country apart from, presumably, anyone who’d been working with a motor vehicle, fire, or anything else that can go boom with five seconds’ neglect, letting them focus their full and undivided attention on kicking the Dwarf’s ass.

Well, almost.

(I’m not posting the actual climactic page, and y’all know why. Oh Viz, when will you double-check your wording choices?!)

Overall, Pride’s last stand isn’t really less reliant on convoluted last-second Alchemy loopholes (since when does turning yourself into a Stone lets you possess other people?!), but it’s a hell of a lot more visceral, both in how he tries to attack Ed and in why he ultimately fails. Shoulda been more careful about eating souls off the ground, kid - sooner or later one of ‘em was gonna come back up at the worst possible time.

Welp, barring GreedLing (didn’t remember he was in this volume? Neither did I) that's the last of the Dwarf’s children, so-

Okay. I’ve been pretty hard on the Dwarf since the start of this post, so let me wrap up with some unqualified praise: this is some top-tier villainy. All at once offhandedly inhuman and deliberately malicious, hitting our heroes in a way no amount of flying rocks or energy blasts* ever could. This is self-attained Godhood at its most powerful and most repulsive, (re)granting life solely so you can snatch it away whenever you please, right before an audience who can’t do anything to stop you, who know full well they all once tried the exact same thing and couldn’t even come close.

One volume to go, ladies and gents. Will - can - should our heroes show they, too, have grown past that limitation?

*Alright, fine, so this volume actually ends on yet another energy blast, but diversions are an equally important part of any self-respecting Big Bad’s arsenal.

[drrockbell]

Edward Elric for the character thing

Yes! Thank you! And you gave me Ed, my favorite person in the whole world😭!

Sexuality Headcanon: Demisexual. I think Arakawa wrote him to be Demi, since he only ever shows romantic and physical attraction to Winry. I consider myself to be demi too, so he’s perfect representation!

Gender Headcanon: I think just the way he is now. He makes a big deal about being manly and takes pride in being man, so I think he’s perfect the way he is now.

A ship I have with said character: Only Winry. They match each other so perfectly and they have a past and understanding of each other that no one else (only Al) could have. And since she was the only person he felt he could just be a regular teenager around, without having to think about his struggles or act like an adult (like around other military men) I feel that he feels calm and safe around her.

A BROTP I have with said character: Of course his baby brother, first and foremost. And then Greedling. If there was a sitcom of Ed, Ling, and Greedling all sharing one apartment or something, I’m so there.

A NOTP I have with said character: Basically everyone who’s not Winry, I just love this ship too much, but I think the biggest one is Noah. So there’s a lot of suggestion that Noah intentionally got Ed tipsy with alcohol so that she could read his mind and in a popular post she was called a “clever girl” and everyone thought she was so cool for it. But me... that made me really uncomfortable, since he in no way consented to it and that’s the same thing someone tries to do to get you loose enough to have sex with you. I ignored it for a while, but the more I think of it, the more messed up it sounds.

Here’s the thing, Winry still gets a bit of flack for looking at his watch, just because she wanted to see how it works. She immediately brought it up to him, apologized, and still got scolded by him. However she was 15 at that time and immediately knew it was wrong. Noah on the other hand is about 22-23 and Ed is 18 and the premeditation of getting him drunk and violating his private space and not even feeling bad for it is horrible. I know Ed is (conveniently) fine with it, but the point still remains, she was never given consent and a person’s mind is the most private and personal thing and to violate it just because you’re interested in them is wrong.

I’m reading a fanfic that actually brings attention to it and it is honestly refreshing to see someone bring it to the light because now I don’t feel crazy for being the only person to think this, because we all know if the roles were switched, people would destroy Ed and would most certainly not be calling him “clever.”

Anyway, this was on my chest for years now and it feels good to just talk about because this is what always bothered me about Noah and ultimately made me dislike her.

A random headcanon: Ed has a hard time sleeping alone (ie when he’s the only one in the house) because there was never a night where he slept by himself. He always had and Al, an ally, or Pinako with him.

General Opinion over said character: He’s very intelligent, considerate, is the kind of guy who remembers perfect dates, and even though he chooses to show his feelings through actions, when he does use his words they are always deep and meaningful.

[naysaltysalmon]

Shoutout to @tiburme for tagging me~!

Rules: Name 10 favorite characters from 10 different things and then tag 10 people.

Oh, massive spoilers below btw.

1. Gon Freecss from Hunter x Hunter: My favorite shounen protagonist by far. At first you think he’s your typical happy-go-lucky bouncy boye :D who definitely doesn’t have abandonment issues or self-destructive tendencies that literally actually almost kill him later on, and then, uwu... The amount of complexity that Gon has as a protagonist who hardly ever has stand-alone development is nothing short of astounding. How during the Chimera Ant Art his characterization totally dips off to the side to become an unknowable entity even to the audience, while still retaining amazing character development regardless -- not to mention how brilliantly daring his decision to threaten Komugi is that nearly every other author with such a happy-go-lucky protagonist would shy away from in cowardice -- is absolutely surreal to me. The more I think and write about Gon, the more I fall in love with him. If I ever meet his father, and by that I mean his real father, the creator, Togashi, I have nothing else to say but,,, well done, sir.

2. Tanjirou Kamado from Demon Slayer: I’m really hoping the Demon Slayer movie comes out soon because I absolutely love this boy and how charming he is. Unlike most protagonists, not just of shounen anime but of seemingly macho story lines that involve power-ups and training in general, Tanjirou never lets go of his kind heart. (Welp, except maybe in some cases when he’s facing the Upper Moons later on -- I haven’t caught up yet -- but WE’RE GONNA IGNORE THAT for now.) From the beginning, Tanjirou’s kindness isn’t an obstacle holding back his power, though other characters pose it that way, but rather he cultivates his empathy to grant peace to the demons he faces. He smiles in the face of anyone who treats him poorly because of his cluelessness, and that’s just so heartwarming to see, and dare I say subversive to the hardened, calculating, and cocky male protagonists we so often get. Good job, Gotouge.

3. Joseph Joestar from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Giorno Giovanna was a close second, but I gotta go with Joseph. He’s the one who made me fall in love with the series, and with the later parts too. Unlike Jonathan Joestar, who was chivalrous and manly, Joseph was a riot: colorful, arrogant, funny, but also extremely clever. I absolutely loved his, “Next you’ll say...!” because at first I expected it to just be him being an overconfident asshole and eventually he’d be proven wrong at the ~Dai Pinchi Moment~ (please excuse my weeb speech, I legit didn’t know what else to call it), but then he hit the mark every time and eventually I was just waiting for when he’d pull that out and it was so hype. Also I surely can’t forget his transformation as an old dude in Part 3 -- him screaming “OOHHHH MY GAAAWDDDA!” and “HOLY SHIIIT!” murdered me every time. And of course, last but not least, the raw fucking emotion when Caeser died -- the dude actually gave a shit and wasn’t made entirely of wit and absurdity, but heart too. Joseph set the tone for what JJBA was as a whole for me (fuck off with that “but Part 3/Part 4 is the best Part” bullshit, Part 2 will always be top tier for me because of Joseph Joestar’s brilliant, bright, and beautiful absurdity -- but Part 5 was really good too). Araki really is a genius.

4. Link from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: My love for this series is a bit older than the series I’ve already mentioned, and TLoZ: TP was actually probably the first time I got seriously obsessed with a fandom. I love all the Links in their own ways, but Twilight Princess really drove home the “lone wolf chosen by the gods, fighting against the world” narrative for me. It made me feel important and strong at a time when no one cared about me. Seeing Link struggle silently through his quest with villagers who meant well but did nothing for him, and Midna who started out as a reluctant acquaintance and eventually became so much more, meant so much to me at the time I played the game. I will always love Twilight Princess the most because of what it did for me at one of the darkest times in my life, and because I felt completely and utterly immersed in every part of the story and gameplay through Link’s character, who was, and in many ways, still is, so relatable to me: Silent courage really is what I use to get through every day.

5. Greedling from Fullmetal Alchemist (Brotherhood): For once I’m not naming the protagonist of a series! Lissen, I still smile whenever I see the slightest reference to Edward Elric, but now he’s more of my childhood love. He’s just a part of my personality already? LOL. Anyway, FMA(B) has so many good characters that choosing just one doesn’t feel right (I mean, same with HxH tho). I say Greedling because that encompasses both Ling and Greed though, two of my favorite characters from the series! Ling’s apparent childishness in constantly running away from fights, making other people pay for his food, and failing to grasp the seriousness of the situation (until Lan Fan’s arm gets cut off lol oops) is so adorable and entertaining. He’s the best kind of idiot asshole, and I especially love how he teases Ed. After him and Greed fuse, Ling’s stout heart becomes even more apparent, as he constantly eggs Greed on to remember his past life, his friends, and become someone outside of Father/the Dwarf in the Flask. Conversely, Greed’s nonchalance and (of course) avarice are nothing short of entertaining and heartbreaking. Greed’s realization at the end, when he finally admitted to himself that what he wanted all along were “friends like these,” completely crushed me the first few times I watched FMAB. And when he’s screaming in the tunnels under Central after having killed Bido, remembering his friends, and he doesn’t understand why, and later attacks Wrath/King Bradley... that shit was so entertaining and cathartic to watch. None of his development feels like forced redemption, nor like it was too little development, since it mostly happens in the background and away from the “validating eyes” of the protagonists other than Ling. And at the end, when Ling and Greed work together to take down Bradley and all the soldiers invading Central HQ... it’s so beautiful. Many have said this before but I’ll say it again: Hiromu Arakawa wrote the perfect series.

6. Ciel Phantomhive from Black Butler: Another protagonist! And another older obsession of mine. Ciel remains in my mind to this day mainly for his heartlessness in relation to his age, and the fluidity with which Toboso tells his story. Normally when authors write younger characters into their serious stories, they make “child adults” of sorts, but Ciel feels totally realistic to the extent that he is both childish and adult to me. Obviously, Ciel is responsible and (normally) level-headed due to being the head of the Phantomhive household, but also from trauma. Yet, his cruelty at times is what sticks in my mind the most: You really feel that he’s someone who feels he’s been abandoned by the entire world, given his experiences, and that makes him disregard or use others sometimes in order to reach his own ends. Normally, authors would be too cowardly to let their protagonists, let alone child protagonists, go to such lengths to avenge their family, or carry out their duty as the dog of the military (looking at you, Arakawa -- she’s still a goddess tho). But Ciel is unforgiving. He lies to Snake and tells him his troupe is still alive. He murders the entire troupe because he’s triggered -- a childish decision, but driven with adult-like power due to trauma. It’s devastatingly riveting, and I cannot forget his unrelenting, contained rage to this day.

7. Ahsoka Tano from Star Wars: The Clone Wars: This one may come as a shock to most of you, because I hardly ever post Star Wars let alone Ahsoka content on here -- but it’s true. Other than the blatant, half-assedly inserted heteroromantic partner they gave Ahsoka in, like, idk season 3??, Ahsoka is a fucking goddess. From her origin as a wee baby in the earlier seasons who didn’t really know what she was doing and was a bit of a cocky brat, to how she matures and becomes wise, resourceful, and fierce in the later seasons, I just love Ahsoka’s design and character to this day. The episodes that stick in my mind aside from the obvious are when she’s possessed by the Dark Side of the Force on that Force balance planet and her arrogance becomes so exaggerated that she threatens and attacks Anakin, her teacher. It was so fucking cathartic. Normally female characters, let alone young protagonist female characters, are never allowed to show the ugly sides of themselves in fiction, since women are always portrayed as perfect beautiful majestic angels or some bullshit like that. (Or they’re cocky/sexy/slutty villain women. ‘Kay then.) Seeing Ahsoka devolve into her basal desires and come out of it like hardly anything happened and she’s still a perfectly valid character was so amazing to see on a meta level; it wasn’t about her learning a lesson or anything, it was a thing that happened like any other character and then they moved the fuck on. I also distinctly remember the episode where she was trapped on that island/planet and she had to take out the aliens that were after her all by herself. That was so fucking empowering to watch and god fucking dammit I need to rewatch this series now. And of course, let us not forget the fact that the entire time, we were all expecting Ahsoka to just be another domino in Anakin’s downfall -- and she was, but not through the refrigerator -- but through walking away from it all. That was so powerful and moving -- and heartbreaking. By the end of TCW, her character carried weight and agency in the narrative, and god, I only wish whoever wrote her could write more female characters in the future.

8. Tigress from Kung Fu Panda: Maybe another surprise, but I think she deserves this spot. Tigress is a female character who starts out as kind of an antagonist, given how she outright tells Po to leave the kung fu temple within the first day of him arriving. She’s even jealous of the fact that he’s chosen as the Dragon Warrior rather than her -- but that’s due to the backwash of years of trying to live up to the memory of Tai Lung in order to please Shifu (which means “master” in Chinese but ok I’ll shut up now), her master and mentor over the years. She never says this out loud in the movie, which is what makes her character more believable. Others even joke about how stoic she is (and not in bad taste). Her character development is definitely present for those who are looking -- but I put her on this list because I’m so happy the movie doesn’t make it some huge dramatic emotional thing, because so often in media women are depicted as being overly-emotional and here Tigress is just a hurt child trying to make her mentor happy. But, she gets over it, her and Po become allies, even friends to each other -- she and Po talk like equals in the second and third movies, and she even tells him to back out of the fight with Lord Shen and he listens (I mean he doesn’t stay put but he doesn’t undermine her opinion either lol, like most jokesy protagonists of Western media would -- looking at you, Marvel). I like Tigress because she’s an antagonist without being a bitch, she’s powerful without being overpowered, and she’s not sexualized despite being a well-trained, at times jealous, and even emotionally awkward kung fu master. And I almost forgot to mention the best part: There is never an indication of romance between her and Po, or any other character, for that matter. She’s perfectly capable, complex, and lovely on her own terms. And that’s that on THAT.

9. Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit: I wanted to include at least one character protagonist from a live-action movie/book, lol. I feel like Bilbo’s pretty self-explanatory. He doesn’t wanna go on an adventure because he likes his doilies and warm sheets, but then Gandalf seduces him with the call to the outside world and possible death (LOL), and he fucking goes for it, grumbling the entire time. Isn’t that what any of us would do if given such a proposition? I like to think so. Bilbo obviously has his own gradual, evil transformation with the One Ring, becomes murderous and uses it to disappear, and grows a strong bromance with the King Under the Mountain (which happens in both the movie and the book), but I think what I like about him is that he really feels... down-to-earth? Like even though the adventure changes him, it never feels like he’s been stretched in a way that makes his core character traits of grumbling and bluntness disappear. He gets better at the whole adventuring thing, for sure, but he remains Bilbo, at least, to me, throughout the journey. It was heartwrenching watching him try to save Thorin in The Battle of Five Armies, honestly, but Bilbo’s the kind of character that I feel like has his own story and mythology aside from The Hobbit, and maybe that’s just the result of J.R.R. Tolkien writing the lore for every aspect of his universe, but My Point Still Stands. He feels like his own man apart from the series he’s in, yet he’s still so much fun in his series.

10. Barley Lightfoot from Onward: And last, this one is because I saw Onward yesterday and was pleasantly surprised by the characterization in it -- and anyone who thinks differently can kiss my *ss. :) I was not expecting the movie to take the twist of fleshing out the “annoying” (more like adorable) overconfident nerdy big brother. Normally those characters are swiped to the side because God Forbid The Comic Relief Have Any Sadness In Them. I was expecting the movie to focus on Ian’s journey to meet his fatha and that the movie would pull something stupid at the end like “oh actually there’s another phoenix gem underneath the school” or “actually since only his legs appeared then you still have 24 hours with him” or some shit like that, but I guess this isn’t an anime so those absurdist explanations wouldn’t hold water anyway. But still, for a kid’s movie, I was NOT expecting this movie to go so hard with the characterization. For once, the main character doesn’t get what he wants at the end, and instead realizes it’s his big brother, Barley, who’s been looking out for him his entire life. Meeting his dad would betray that reality. What happens instead is that the lovable big brother never actually said goodbye to their dad before he died, because when their dad got sick, said brother ran away from the hospital room in fear of all the life-sustaining equipment. (Is this some meta thing about Chris Pratt and Guardians of the Galaxy? Off topic and call me stupid, but I didn’t realize Chris Pratt plays him until I saw everyone freaking out about it afterward on Tumblr laksjdflak.) So instead, the lovable big brother talks to the dad at the end, and unconfident younger brother grows confidence and thanks big bro for being with him his entire life. It was so touching, dude. I cry. But the moment that sticks in my mind the most was when Ian was crossing the invisible bridge... Ian needed to have confidence in himself to be able to cross over a chasm in their path, and Barley knew that if Ian didn’t believe in himself, he would fall and die. They tie a rope around Ian for good measure, and Barley encourages him the entire way, but halfway over, the rope comes loose and slips off. Barley sees this and starts panicking, but of course continues to encourage Ian so that Ian will get to the other side. What got to me wasn’t the fact that he faked it for Ian, but that there are actual tears running down his face as he’s encouraging Ian to get to the other side, because he knows otherwise Ian wouldn’t have the confidence and would fall to his death. Like dude, that raw, complex emotion in a kid’s movie?! DUDE?! I was fucking surprised. The clear anxiety and grief in Barley’s face as Ian’s totally clueless and even dancing around in the air was just too much, omfg. Of course, then it’s played off for laughs, but... I guess that makes sense for the annoying overconfident nerdy big bro character. :’)

Okay these are way longer than I anticipated and I’m sorry, but also I’m really not. Hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts on my favs!

Seems I don’t talk to that many people on here anymore: @stupidbluejay @mirycactusito @chronicstarlight

[spearpointtranslations]

MTXT novels body sharing aus

@lyridsca​

I have considered a Wei Wuxian & Mo Xuanyu body sharing au. The problem is I only have vague ideas and no actual plot to bind anything together so I won’t write this anytime soon. 

I love the Body Sharing trope whether it is adversarial, teamwork-like or both. 

Just some mentions of favs/dynamics I’ve seen:

Eddie & Venom, Drake & Riot (Venom), Ling Yao & Greed (Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood), Demon King and Orchid (Demon King/The Parting of the Orchid and Cang), Ichigo and Hollow Ichigo (Bleach), Daisuke & Dark, Satoshi & Krad (DN Angel), Yugi and Atem (Yugioh)

Greedling (<3) and Symbrock are my favorite teamwork-type body sharing. 

Hollow Ichigo & Ichigo and Demon King & Orchid are my favorite adversarial-type body sharing. 

That being said, here’s my random ideas:

Wei Wuxian and Mo Xuanyu body sharing AU 

-Mo Xuanyu was about to leave after the ritual but WWX does the spiritual equivalent of grabbing MXY’s ghost ankle so he gets dragged back in the body. 

-WWX complains and informs LWJ that sharing body with MXY is like being aware a bed is only meant for one person but there’s two on it. But it’s WWX’s fault MXY is not long gone by now. 

-LWJ constantly eats vinegar because MXY is carrying WWX’s soul, and has him locked up, and that’s what’s LWJ has basically wanted.    

-It’s MXY’s body so he has more power than WWX does but not by much. WWX calls to MXY the landlord. 

-MXY lends WWX his knowledge of Jin sect swordplay at some point. they have to use Jin and Jiang sect swordplay against Jin Ling, who also knows both... 

-MXY has poor self-esteem and is generally negative while WWX is very confident and has a positive attitude, so he gives MXY pep talks. 

-MXY can steal sensation away from WWX, like when WWX goes drinking, WWX drinks alot but doesn’t feel the slightest buzz because MXY is taking it all since he’s mad at WWX due to reasons. as a result his soul is super drunk and just to be petty WWX throws control of the body to MXY, so LWJ has to take care of a really drunk MXY.  

-Wei Wuxian says they should keep their body sharing a secret but he is the one who accidentally says 我们 (We) to LWJ, in the phrase “we think you’re a handsome guy” and LWJ already knew something was off but WWX referred to himself as “we”, what the frick. 

-WWX has been dead for a long time he’s missed a lot of sensation. what I mean is he wants to jerk off but MXY is like um, wtf, self-care is a personal thing, not generally done for others to see. there’s negotiations and stuff but when WWX is actually doing it (or they both are) he can tell MXY is thinking of LWJ, for some reason???

-WWX and MXY have different sleep schedules so there’s a period of time in the morning where WWX isn’t awake yet but MXY and LWJ already are and LWJ chooses this time to confront MXY and they talk about stuff.   

Shen Yuan and Shen Qingqiu sharing a body AU 

-a disaster, both of them are constantly fighting each other. right hand controlled by one fights the left hand controlled by the other. walking is even a chore at first. but SQQ can hear the system too and Shen Yuan lays the book’s plot on him so together they decide the way to avoid death is to become the best mentor ever and when LBH rules the world he’ll repay them with riches and binches (SQQ’s words). 

-SY sometimes withdraws and doesn’t observe what’s going on or what SQQ is doing. SY usually voluntarily does this when SQQ announces he has to bathe. However, SY returned to consciousness earlier one time because he felt something was off and he becomes alert to SQQ trying to murder LBH.   

SY: I thought you were bathing???

SQQ: I lied.

So SY has to brave being around even when SQQ is washing because he doesn’t trust him anymore. he has to be alert always. 

-SQQ calls SY his significant other. SY thinks he’s joking and they don’t have the same definition. SQQ slowly falls for SY but interprets his own feelings for SY as annoyance and hatred (lmao).  

-both SY and SQQ end up having no idea LBH fell for them but the moment LBH makes it clear to SQQ first, SQQ is like yeah, sure. he’s all mine. because he had been jealous of the description of LBH’s large harem and he wanted it gone, and it is because of this infatuation.

-SY and SQQ are separated at one point when SY gets his own plant body.  

-uh, idk how tumblr’s bot filters work but, 

not safe 4 work below 

SQQ is not good at sharing. neither is LBH, but for SY they make exceptions.  

they will have a 3p and i have detailed expectations of how it will go. seeing that SQQ and LBH are in a hatemance, SY says he’ll go rather than come between the two of them.  

in english to “come” is the euphemism for 0rgasm but in chinese it is “go”. but anyway SY should have picked his words better because LBH says that’s a great idea, SY should “come“ between him and SQQ. 

LBH gets inside of SY while SY is inside of SQQ (who did say he missed SY being inside of him so). and the activity’s pace is basically controlled by LBH because every time he thrusts into SY, the momentum sends SY’s hips snapping forward into SQQ. and SQQ calls SY’s name but SY is like ....bro, I’m not even doing any of the work here. 

[zetalial]

BH rewatch Episode 29

Previous Episode

Before I tackle this episode, I figured I’d briefly mention the changed openings. It was different last episode too but I forgot to talk about it. Golden Time Lover is popular but I don’t like it nearly so much as Hologram, which it replaces. In fact I’d say it’s my least favourite of the Brotherhood openings. They’re all very good of course, so ranking them is hard. Mine would be something like. Favourite is OP5: Rain, followed by OP1: Again followed by OP2: Hologram, followed by OP4: Period, and then OP3: Golden Time Lover. 

New ED’s nice and I’ll definitely be getting used to it as I’m being subjected to Post-credit scenes now. Why they start half way through the series is anybody’s guess. Lot of Winry fanservice in it. Anyway, on to the next episode! 

Episode 29: Struggle of the Fool

Huh this is actually another one of those aftermath episodes, which caught me off guard a bit as I felt like the end of the last one was still sort of thick with action. Like, last episode ended with Ed trying to fight/talk to Greedling while Envy restrains them and Scar also just blew up the sewer corridor to escape.

This episode starts with no sign of Greedling as Ed and Al follow Envy, now back to his regular form, into an elevator and they ride an elevator together. (One that can clearly take a lot of weight as Envy is supposed to be really heavy). I don’t really mind I guess, but I feel like last episode cut off at a weird moment and it seemed like Greedling was going to be central to the next episode when he’s barely in it.

Oh well. Them just casually riding the elevator with Envy is kind of funny honestly. Gosh, Envy’s character is so different form his 03 self but somehow both are great in their own way. They now learn that Father’s lair is directly beneath the military HQ. 

Envy instructs Ed to have a shower so we can enjoy Ed with his hair down. Ah it’s so pretty... Then standard shenanigans with Ed being naked and I admit that I was mostly trying to get a glimpse of Ed’s feet to see if he was still wearing only one shoe. What sort of fangirl am I? Oh right, the obsessed with irrelevant details kind. The answer, by the way, is that the show wants to frustrate me.

What kind of shoes are these black circles, show? Everyone else’s looks normal. (Okay so whoever supplied them with his outfit remembered to get shoes as well, that’s all.)

Huh, Ed’s calling Mei’s panda a cat now but I swear the first time he saw it, he correctly called it a panda. It’s established that Mei’s alright and inside Al’s armour anyway. Envy runs in on a naked Ed and is apparently embarrassed? It cuts away so maybe it was Ed reacting in horror? Envy doesn’t seem the type to care honestly but he’s hard to read especially when I’m often getting confused between 03 and BH Envy’s personality. 

Right, so they meet with the Fuhrer along with Mustang who is honestly pretty generous. He doesn’t care what they do so long as they don’t interfere in Father’s plan and doesn’t really put any further watch on them even as he tells them that they’re very important. He just threatens Winry and Edward immediately complies after initially threatening to resign. (Roy’s team is already being threatened as well.) 

Roy meets with Riza and seems to have suspected she might have run away though she of course stayed loyal. She says something about only needing to be told once. They tell Armstrong about Wrath. Roy muses on how he felt at his most human when fighting Lust, a real monster. 

Oh, Armstrong reveals how he couldn’t take Ishval and fled. He regrets not fighting against it. I swear we don’t meet anyone who actually fought against the Ishval massacre though. All the other characters seem to have actively participated in it. His 03 counterpart participated and seems to feel great turmoil for it in that series so I’d say running from the conflict might have been the bravest action anyone took. It’s a form of protest in its own way even if it’s not truly effective. That he stays a part of the military at all is significant, though he’s probably pressured by his family.

Mei is taken to Doctor Knox to rest. Lan Fan is also there, recovering. She is intending to get automail though Al warns her that she’s still recovering. Eh, automail seems like the kind of thing that’d be easier to apply with a fresh wound anyway. 

Ed calls Winry and we get our EdWin moment, with Winry claiming its rare for him to call and how happy she is that he’s calling and looking out for her. This reminds me of that moment where Ed asked for her opinion on their quest and she was flattered that he thought to ask her opinion at all. I swear the shipping moments are when the show’s at its least subtle.

GreedLing appears, reminding Ed that he is not Ling and Ed doesn’t try to push the issue at all for now. It’s just a casual, hello, give this to Lan Fan, bye. But last episode Ed was so determined to fight for Ling! Why is he so casual now? Nevermind that the existence of the message means Ling is definitely still in there and no one remarks on it. 

I don’t know why he bothered to keep it secret anyway when the message merely said, that he has the stone while Al tells Lan Fan all about what happened.

Oh, Mei and Lan Fan are instant enemies because they’re from different clans. I know it’s meant to be a humorous moment but gosh they’re threatening to kill each other. It’s very dramatic. Where does Mei get all those daggers by the way? She seems to have hundreds of the things.

Wrath and Greed meet up and Wrath mentions that conversation he had with Ling about true leadership and how naive he was and how he must be disillusioned from being combined with a monster like Greed. Ling briefly breaks free to protest.

Ed confirms that his alchemy is working again and that other alchemists were stopped by Father’s power as well. He reasons that Mei and Scar’s power must be different and he resolves to find out why, which will start up another arc. 

Speaking of Scar, he’s able to explore quite freely, I’m surprised neither Envy or Greed were sent after him. He finds Marcoh and Marcoh reveals that he was responsible for much of the destruction wrought in Ishval and begs Scar to end his life as he reveals that he fears another terrible plot is being brewed by those behind the military. 

You know I wonder if any of this was inspired by FMA 03 at all? Marcoh bowing his head, freely accepting the justice from Scar reminds me very much of 03 episode 14-15 where Marcoh is very clear about his guilt and he even explains some of the Ishval war and the next episode of BH is also about Ishval, framed as Scar demanding to know about it form Marcoh. It’s hard to know - but I believe this part of the manga was released quite a while after 03 had finished airing so it’s possible it drew some inspiration as much as things go a different way. This series is emphasising Scar’s anger a lot more, I feel, where 03 Scar was different somehow. Like he was also willing to kill but he took no pleasure in it and considered it his mission from both his brother and his faith more generally. Where this Scar is more consumed with his rage which drives a lot of his action. The resolution with Marcoh will happen differently in this series but this episode ends here anyway.

So all in all, another breather with some entertaining bits but nothing too striking. It was an alright episode I guess. A lot of stuff is getting established that will lead into the next arc and some wrapping up of the last arc. 

Not sure what the episode title is really referring to. It’s pretty vague. Greedling maybe? Doesn’t have too much to do with Episode 21: Advance of the Fool from what I can see though the title is formatted the same from way

[buffintruder]

1? 13? 18?

Thanks for the ask!

1. What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting?

Arial because it’s the default setting. However I have grown attached to it, and I usually start off writing essays in Arial even though professors want it in Times New Roman because words look weird in that font

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?

Things I don’t have any experience at all with is hard to write. Romance is also hard to write because I’ll usually get embarrassed part way through. Like I’ll try to write a kiss and my brain will just be like “pffff this is so cringe” (though to be fair I also feel this way sometimes about very emotionally vulnerable platonic moments). Things like anxiety are also hard to write about because I’ve done it too many times and I feel like I’m just reusing the same phrases over and over again any time a character feels any amount of fear or worry. 

Idk what’s easy but I think the most fun stuff to write is when characters finally talk about something they’ve been avoiding talking about (which i’m not really sure counts as a “subject matter” but eh)

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. 

Since you know fma, I’ll choose my best Greedling fic, specifically the scene where I wrote Greed’s death from Ling’s pov (the last scene of this chapter if you are curious https://archiveofourown.org/works/23971405/chapters/58686808)

Normally I don’t think it’s super interesting to just copy and paste a scene from canon into your fic, but I had so much fun with this one. I knew I had to keep it more or less the same as in canon because it’s such a key moment for Greed’s character arc (and also Ling’s), which is what this fic was about. I just took two days to write this scene and other than a bit of minor editing on the phrasing and stuff, it’s mostly the same as it was in the first draft. I watched the subbed version and took the dialogue from that, changing a couple bits minutely because either I didn’t like the translation or because I had a translation that worked better for my story. 

The first day, I remember feeling extremely gleeful. It had been awhile since I had written angst, and as I was writing it, I kept being like “hee hee i can’t wait to make people suffer by reading this”. The second day, I mostly just felt sad though.

Also I made one change to the fic a couple months after I posted it, which I do not usually do. Awhile back, I noticed that there’s a pretty big difference in Greed’s dialogue in the subbed version vs the dubbed version and I went through in collected all the big differences I could find so that maybe one day I could write some analysis on it. For the most part, I prefer the subbed version, but there are a couple parts the dubbed is better one of which is as Greed is about to die. And because I was going for maximum pain, I switched out the dialogue from the first to the second:

Greed: Lan Fan has a Philosopher’s Stone. Take it and go home, kid Ling: Wait...

Greed: Lan Fan has a Philosopher’s Stone. So you don’t even need me anymore, kid Ling: But I do...

[waitineedaname]

mdzs and svsss both feed me so well with my favorite trope of "two people with the same face who look completely different entirely because of how they wear that face"

[strawbebehmod]

On the long journey home

Another guard dog au fic This one taking place just after the promised day. Enjoy.

Warning: Angst

His body was wracked with pain as the alchemic lightning engulfed it. He cried out in agony as he felt like his limbs were ripped from him. His throat felt like it was being ripped out as he continued to scream. He swore the scientists were talking about something as they tortured him, but he couldn’t hear them over the sound of his shouting and the howling of the animal they had wheeled in beside him. All of a sudden it all stopped as he found himself in a dark space. He blinked as he looked around in confusion before a spotlight opened up on a figure. He shielded his eyes for a moment before he gasped as he saw the familiar tall man. His hair was slicked back. His sunglasses covered his eyes and his torso was covered by a black vest with a white fur trim. Dolcetto heart nearly stopped. “Greed?” he whispered before a smile broke out across his face. “GREED!” he cried, running towards him. However, he slowed as he noticed the man wasn’t smiling, his usual toothy grin. As he pulled off his glasses, Dolcetto stopped as he saw the forlorn and pained look in his eyes. It was if the man was almost pleading with him. “Greed?” he questioned, worry in his voice, “Greed, what’s wrong?” He didn’t get a response, however, as the platform Greed was standing on suddenly became a hand and folded in on itself. “NOOOO!” the dog chimera cried, reaching out towards him. He looked on in horror as blood seep through the crevices between the fingers. There was a low rumble of laughter as the owner of the hand revealed itself. Father towered over him, smiling evilly. The monster suddenly uncurled its fist and raised it up to bring down on the dog chimera. … Dolcetto awoke in a cold sweat, panting heavily. He glanced around in the dark to find himself sitting inside a dark, cool space. It smelled like dirt, and the floor beneath him was hard stone. However, he knew he wasn’t back in the lab as he was lying inside a sleeping bag. With his night vision he could make out a lantern and a pack of matches next to him. He quickly stuck them and lit the lantern to get a good look around him. He glanced around to see that he was inside a tent. He sighed as he remembered. They had made it to the ruins of Xerxes the previous day, and stopped for the night there. They being himself, Lan Fan, Ling, Mei, her panda, and their two escorts. They were headed back to Xing to deliver the secret of immortality so that Ling may become emperor. Dolcetto brought his hand to his face as he took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. He had had the first part of his dream so many times, that it was easier to calm himself down from now. He could remind himself the pain was gone. He wasn’t in the lab any more. He wasn’t going to wake up to another damn experimentation. He was safe. And now he could add the fact that any surviving personnel that had experimented on him and his friends were arrested and were going to be put on trial in the near future for their crimes. That thought definitely helped. But the second part…well that had just started recently after Greed’s death. His shoulders shuddered and he brought his forehead to his knees. as he remembered his friend’s passing. How he had been ripped from Ling’s body and crushed by Father between the monster’s teeth. That idiot…If he had just stayed away from him. If he had just been close enough to stop the homunculus…he would still be alive right now. Dolcetto growled and rubbed his eyes, catching the salt water that was starting to form. He reminded himself that the last thing Greed would have wanted was for him to be crying over him. He might even tease him about it. He did when he first met Greedling after all. “What? You crying over me? Boy you must have gotten soft when I was away. Next you’ll be telling me you adopted a barrel full of puppies! Though if you did that would bring up the question of would that make you a dog parent, or just a parent parent?” Dolcetto chuckled as he recalled the memory before frowning. He had lost him one before, but the last time had been different. He still had hope the homunculus was out there somewhere. Now he was gone for good like the rest of his friends and it stung. He felt so alone. He sat up and sighed as he rubbed his hands down his face. He then glanced over to his bag where his flask was. He was no alcoholic, but he always kept some on him if he needed two shots to ease himself back to sleep after a particularly bad nightmare. They all had. It was one of the perks of living in a bar. He considered taking a few swigs but decided against it. He wasn’t exactly inconsolable right now and he really should be saving it for a particularly bad night terror. He yawned as he slipped back into his sleeping bag, ready to fall back asleep…That is until he heard a gasp and panting come from the next tent over. His eye snapped open in alarm as he heard the panting continue. It was then follow by some kind of muffled whimper. He also smelled something. What was that? Were those…stress pheromones? With another whiff he was able to confirm it. There was no mistaking it. He remembered that smell very well coming off of people during the promised day, during the raid, at the lab…He shudder, pushing the thought from his mind before he turned his head in the direction of the noise. He remembered that Ling had the tent next to him. Was the kid alright? Dolcetto grabbed his lantern and got out of his tent. He shivered slightly in the cool desert air as he walked the three yard distance over to Ling’s tent. As he did so, the noise got a little louder. Yup, it was definitely coming from him. “Ling? You ok in there?” He called quietly as he approached, “Ling you alright?” The noise stopped almost immediately. There was a pause before the boy spoke. “Yes…I’m fine,” he responded carefully. Dolcetto raised an eyebrow. “You sure? You sounded like you were upset in there,” he said. “I’m afraid you were mistaken. I assure you, there is nothing for you to worry about,” he reiterated a bit more forcefully. Dolcetto frown. “Ling, I can smell the stress pheromones coming from your tent all the way from mine,” he stated. Ling cursed under his breath at Dolcetto’s dog senses. “Fine,” he sighed, “Come in.” Dolcetto did so, lifting the flap of the tent before entering. The teenage prince scowled at him as he entered. Ling hair, which was down for once, was a total mess. It was clear the boy had been tossing and turning in his sleep. “What do you want?”he asked, clearly annoy. “To make sure you’re alright. You sounded like you woke up from a pretty nasty nightmare,” he said, sitting down across from him. Ling frowned. “Thank you for your concern, but I’m not a child,” he said, “I don’t need to be coddled after I’ve had a bad dream.” Dolcetto frowned at him. “First of all, I’m not here to coddle you. I just want to make sure you aren’t having a panic attack alone or some shit,” he said, “Secondly as much as you probably hate to admit it, you were CRYING a few minutes ago. It takes a lot to make you cry, so something really serious must be up.” “So spill it kid,” he said, “What’s got you so upset?” Ling glared at him before sighing. As he did so, his eyes looked much older than he was. The were worn and tired, for more reasons than a lack of sleep. “…I had a dream about the Promised Day,” he admitted, “About what happened to both Greed and Fu, I…” He bit his lip trying to contain his emotion, although some of still slipped through into his voice. “I couldn’t save them…” he admitted guiltily. Dolcetto winced. He couldn’t image how the kid felt, not fully anyways. Although it was true he had seen Greed die too, and he had been the dog chimera’s closest friend, Ling had him living inside his head for over a year. They were “soul mates” so to speak. It was impossible to not be extremely close with the homunculus under such circumstances. And to top it off, he had to feel the philosopher’s stone be ripped out of him, his friend be pulled out of his body. That couldn’t be anything less than traumatic. Oh, and not to mention he lost what was essentially a family member on the same day. How the kid wasn’t a mental wreck right now was beyond him. But he definitely knew how he felt when he said he wasn’t able to protect them. That was the whole reason why he was still alive it seems. He would have died at the Devil’s nest protecting Martel and Roa if he hadn’t been knocked out cold. And he probably would have died like Fu at the hands of Fuhrer Bradley trying to protect the Briggs soldiers if Falman hadn’t held him back after he had gotten injured. Instead all he could do was just sit back and watch from a distance as good men were slaughtered and his closest friend was destroyed by the one who made him. He had felt useless. Utterly useless. Dolcetto placed a hand on Ling’s shoulders. “It’s not your fault kid,” he said, “It couldn’t be helped. The old man made the decision to protect you when he knew he was gonna die. And Greed well, in that situation I don’t think there was anything you could have done.” That didn’t assure Ling as he looked down. “I could have held on,” he said. Dolcetto gave him a confused look. “Come again?” He said. “I could have held onto Greed. When Father was pulling every soul out of the stone, I could have held onto him longer and kept him there, but he told me to let go,” he admitted, “I should have held on…” Dolcetto frowned. “And how well do you think that would have worked out?”he said, “You said it yourself, the asshole was pulling every soul out of the stone. If you had held on, you might have gotten sucked up with them! Then what would have happened, huh? Who would be emperor then?” Ling shrugged. “Mei?”he suggested. Dolcetto huffed and rolled his eyes. “Sure, fine, but what about your friends?” he said, “If you died after getting so far, how do you think that would make them feel? Fu died protecting you. Lan Fan gave up her arm for you! What would happen to her if you kicked the bucket? She had just lost her grandfather, there’s no way she could handle losing you too! You’re the girl’s purpose in life. Hell, even I wanted to risk my life to see you reach that throne.” Ling went silent for a moment. “I suppose you’re right,” he said, “It’s just…I suppose I feel very alone right now. It’s hard to get used to not sharing a body with someone,” he said. “Well, you aren’t,” Dolcetto said with a sigh, “We’re all hurting here. We all’ve got loss in common. But I think that just makes us better able to support each other. You and Lan Fan especially. In fact you should probably talk to her about what happened. The girl may seem all tough and stoic, but if she’s anything like Martel she’s probably needs a shoulder to cry on right about now.” He felt a pang of sadness. Martel had always been tough as nails, withstanding anything that had been thrown at her. Beat downs, starvation, torture, anything those crazy scientist had in mind, but she would only break down if someone else she cared about was killed or seriously injured. In that way, Lan Fan reminded him a lot of the snake chimera. “Seriously though,” he said, “If you ever need a distraction or something to deal with the pain…just let me know. I probably could use it too.” Ling smiled at him. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he responded, “You know, you really are quite good at this whole supportive friend thing,” he said with a sad smile, “I think this one conversation helped me more than I realize…You’ve got a real talent for it, you know.” Dolcetto smirked at him. “Hey, maybe the dog they fused me with was a therapy animal,” he joked. This caused Ling to smile further. After that, Dolcetto bid him good night. As he headed back to his tent he felt his heart was at ease. For the rest of the night, not a single nightmare plagued either of them.

[neverlearnedtoread]

Soul of the Sword

⭐⭐⭐⭐; yumeko ignores everyone as they try to make her do stuff for them and does what she wants anyway, which is real gucci of her

Oh?? 👌😉😏

japanese-inspired fantasy! while i would have preferred physical descriptions (that way, if you know japanese folklore, you can pick up on the cues, and if you don’t, you’ll still know what it looks like), i felt like the worldbuilding was a lot more manageable this time around

lgbt rep! though i personally found it heavy-handed, the lgbt side couple was cute, and im here for that

like any self-respecting weeaboo, ive read fullmetal alchemist, which means if you have any remotely greedling-esque character, im obligated to stan. it was fun to see hakaimono and yumeko go head to head! very ‘unstoppable force meets other unstoppable force’

the maturity of the main romance - yumeko decided tatsumi deserved to have someone in his corner, and held true to that. steadfast loyalty wins over witty banter with a hot guy for me any day

i flew through this plot so quickly, i probably left the pages smoking faintly. a lot of trilogies have their 2nd title as their weakest link, but for me, this book was the strongest out of the three

No.. ❌🤢🤮

yumeko’s innocence still gets used as a gag, which is annoying - it also drives a disconnect between her intuitiveness in tricking others with her lack of understanding regarding obvious social cues

the side romance can get pretty...over the top with the sweet. it made me cringe a little, especially because yumeko’s obliviousness made it all the more glaringly obvious. still, it was a side romance - the plot was moving fast enough that we didn’t have to spend too long being embarrassed during these scenes

Some spoilers under the cut - this is the second book in the series!

Summary: Yumeko, a half-kitsune tasked with safeguarding one of three pieces of a powerful dragon-summoning scroll, has an ever-growing list of things to do before Dragon Bullying Season starts in earnest - and random people keep on popping up out of nowhere to make more demands. One of these people is Lady Hanshou, the mysterious matriarch of the shady Kage clan, who requests Yumeko’s help in neutralizing the demon Hakaimono, currently running amok after possessing her personal demonslayer, Kage Tatsumi. Lady Hanshou’s perfectly happy killing her loyal servant to retain control of the cursed sword Kamigoroshi, but Yumeko can’t accept that outcome - Kage Tatsumi promised to protect her from harm, and she’s not going to turn her back on him now. Knowing that Hakaimono intends to come after the Dragon Scroll pieces in his quest to free himself from the mortal realm, Yumeko prepares to face him, and win back Tatsumi’s soul in the process.

Concept: 💭💭💭

I had my reservations about how this book was going to go! Part of what made the beginning of the first book tough for me to get through was how 2D the main characters were before they started travelling together - their dynamic smoothed out a lot of the grating aspects of their personalities, making them more enjoyable to read. So starting the book with the two of them split up from each other, travelling separately throughout the whole book and not likely to meet until the very end - I was expecting to be frustrated.

Execution: 💥💥💥💥

Instead, I was pleasantly surprised! The new character interactions that opened up once the main leads were split up created a new layer for me to appreciate, while still never overshadowing the relationship the two leads had built from the first book - they still thought about each other, and the author didn’t withhold them crossing paths again from the reader like stick with a carrot in front of a donkey. I kept thinking how respectful the author was to build her main leads up as individuals first, with their own character arcs to pursue, before she was going to bring them together again.

Personal Enjoyment: ❤❤❤❤❤

This trilogy has great consistency with its characters - a subtly difficult thing to do, balancing the character arc and development with a character that still feels the same. I had a lot of fun watching Yumeko consolidate her character - it never felt like she was changing, more like she was becoming who she was supposed to be. And of course our new star - Hakaimono, my man! I thoroughly enjoyed his chapters in this book, which I wasn’t expecting at all, because of the distinct perspective he offered. He’s probably one of the only characters we get to know that has been present for multiple wishes, and it shows in the way he interacts with all the other mysterious players that were only hinted at in the first book. It elevates the story from Yumeko and Tatsumi’s pawn-level perspective of the board, although you can tell that for all of Hakaimono’s immense power he’s still no higher than a knight or a bishop, and it chafes at him.

Favourite Moment: the scene at the steel feather temple when yumeko tricked hakaimono and managed to use her diversions and illusions well enough to actually lay her hands on him - the bde of it all was choice 👌👌 im really enjoying watching yumeko take her ‘silly illusions’ and apply real power to them - we love to see a main female character develop her powers and her range!!!

Favourite Character: Yumeko - what a lovely main character to have; there are so many things to like about her. i love "”bitchy”” female characters as much as the next person but its nice to see variety, since everyone seems to think there are only a few ways to write ‘wormenn’ realistically - i loved yumeko’s strength and steadfastness of belief that she can do the impossible because its the right thing to do, without her becoming harsher or more cruel in the process. she even asked permission from tatsumi first! that’s another thing i really liked about yumeko - she listened and valued everyone’s opinion, even though it didn’t necessarily sway her final choice. we stan a woman who said my pussy pops severely and at the end of the day, im making that everyone else’s problem